FXLC95000CL Xtrinsic Intelligent Motion-sensing Platform – More than just a Smart Sensor

FXLC95000CL Xtrinsic intelligent motion-sensing platform – More than just a smart sensor

Almost three years ago, I introduced you to the MMA955x intelligent 3-axis accelerometer (Evolving Intelligence with Sensors, June 2010). Several weeks ago, Freescale announced the next product in that line, the FXLC95000CL Xtrinsic intelligent motion-sensing platform (henceforth referred to as the “95K”). More than just a smart sensor, we’ve beefed up the design in a number of ways. That is most obvious in the device’s 3x5x1 LGA package. This is a bit larger than that of its older sibling (at 3x3x1). But you’ll see we need that extra space for extra GPIO, master SPI port and 8X the flash and RAM content.

Contrasting the two devices you get:

Feature

MMA955x

FXLC95000CL

CPU

32-bit ColdFire V1 with hardware multiply-accumulate

32-bit ColdFire V1 with hardware multiply-accumulate

Maximum CPU clock

8MHz

16MHz

Flash memory

16K bytes

128K bytes

RAM

2K bytes

16K bytes

ROM

4K bytes

16K bytes

slave ports

I2C / SPI (2 Mbit/s max)

I2C / SPI (4 Mbit/s max)

master port(s)

I2C (400 Kbit/s max)

I2C (400 Kbit/s max)

SPI (4 Mbit/s max)

supplies

1.8V

1.8V core, 1.72 to 3.6V I/O

GPIO

10

16

Timers

frame interval

programmable delay block

2 general purpose TPMs

1 modulo timer

frame interval

programmable delay block

2 general purpose TPMs

1 modulo timer

Software

Light-weight Scheduler

CodeWarrior

MQXTM RTOS

CodeWarrior

If you compare the 95K block diagram (below) with that of the MMA955x, you’ll see a LOT of similarities. It’s basically the same design, just WITH MORE.

If you attach a MAG3110 magnetometer to the master I2C port and drop in Freescale’s free eCompass software, you’ll have everything you need for an electronic compass.

The development board for the 95K is shown below. The master I2C is brought out on connector J8. The master SPI is brought out on J12. The board includes a dedicated MCF51QE128CLH which acts as a bridge between your PC’s USB port and the slave port of the 95K.

When it was introduced three years ago, the MMA955x was the first of its kind. There were no other products like it. We designed that device for drop-in compatibility with the standard 3×3 accelerometer packages of the time. That constrained memory to 16K bytes flash, which is fine for numerous applications, but limiting for others. The 95K blows the lid off those constraints by increasing the amount of flash and RAM by 8X, and doubling the clock speed of the MMA955x. I am really looking forward to seeing what kind of creative products get built using the 95K.